Vietnam’s health insurance coverage to exceed 79% by year-end

by Gabriel Olano11 Oct 2016

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Vietnam’s health insurance coverage to exceed 79% by year-end

The health insurance coverage rate in Vietnam is expected to exceed 79% by the end of the year, 3% higher than the set target, according to Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien during a National Assembly meeting.

Tien cited statistics that 73.66 million people, or 79.5% of the country’s population, have health cover.

During the meeting, committee members inquired about the state of the national health insurance fund, due to the increasing cost of medical care. The health ministry was asked whether the hike in medical service fees will actually result in higher quality of treatment. Several members voiced concern that payment procedures for health insurance are complicated, discouraging the public from joining the health insurance scheme.

The committee urged the health ministry to utilize investments in all possible avenues to bring medical services to grassroots level, incorporating the model of family doctors. It also stressed the need to close the gap of medical service quality and health indexes among the country’s regions.

The health minister added that the country is also set to surpass another health target, which is the rate of hospital beds per 10,000 of the population. The government set a goal of 24.5 beds per 10,000, but projections show that it is likely to reach 25 by the end of the year.